Romans 14:7

For none of us Us the justified, the "sons of God." Here (and in Romans 14:8-9,) St Paul states the great principle on which the practice in question is, or should be, based. He takes it for granted that each Christian owns, and acts upon, a sense of the Lordship of Christ, because that Lordship is a Divine fact.

liveth to himself See last note on Romans 14:4. Here, as in 1 Corinthians 4, the argument passes from the Christian's independence of man's judgment to his deep dependence on the Lord's. To "live to himself" is here, manifestly, not so much to live a "selfish" life as to live a life in which the mere dictates of conscience and will are the supreme rule, irrespective of Christ. Q. d., "none of us believers can make anything lowerthan Christ and His will the rule of life. Opinions, convictions, conscience itself, must be brought for light and correction to Him; for we are His."

Strictly speaking, this is a digression, as the main purport of the passage is to insist on the lawful freedom of believers with regard to one another.